1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decorated educational kit consisting of a plastic container within which plastic blocks depicting letters of the alphabet, along with the numerals 0 to 9 are contained, and wherein the plastic blocks are useful as a learning tool for teaching children the alphabet and numbers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Children and particularly young children learn best by "touching" and "feeling," especially during their formative years. Children at a young age have not learned, much less mastered, the art of conceptual or abstract thinking. Therefore, whenever children can hold, observe close-up, or simply touch the object of instruction, they gain a much greater knowledge than if they had simply read about the object of instruction. When children can touch or play with teaching instruments their normally short attention spans are increased. While playing with the teaching gadgets the children are actually learning and enjoying themselves at the same time. As with adults, children tend to spend more time, energy and enthusiasm in activities they enjoy. When children learn more and see that learning can be fun, their desire and ability to learn increases and results in a heightened self-esteem.
All parents want their children to grow up having a healthy self-esteem. An effective way to achieve this is to instill in children at an early age a great amount of self-confidence in their ability to learn. This happens when parents provide learning opportunities for their children that are both fun and appropriate for their age. The children learn while having fun and then desire to learn more. A practical technique for inspiring young minds to learn is to start with learning the alphabet. If children can be taught to learn the alphabet in a way that is both fun and effective then the children will be well on their way to developing a love and joy for learning. There is, therefore, a need for a learning kit for teaching children the alphabet and numbers that allows for hands-on learning, is constructed such that each alphanumeric symbol is of a separate color, is three-dimensional to teach object recognition, includes a container made of the same material as the letters with a picture of each letter (assembled and disassembled) thereupon, is fun to play with, and is safe for small children. The present invention provides such a device.
Educational type toys have been described in the patent literature. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,508 issued to Tabler on Jul. 27, 1993, and French Pat. No. 986,961 published on Aug. 7, 1951, both describe alphanumeric symbols, but fail to show symbols having distinct colors that are positioned together using a dovetail and groove arrangement that ensures a solid and secure attachment of symbols. In addition, neither patent discloses a kit having a container of sufficient size to house all of the symbols and that displays all of the symbols in an assembled and disassembled format to assist the children in object recognition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,883 issued to Brinkley on Mar. 12, 1991, and 187,420 issued to Schmitthenner on Feb. 13, 1877, both describe educational alphanumerical symbols but do not teach attaching the separate parts of the symbols together using a dovetail and groove arrangement, and also fail to teach a kit having a container that displays all of the symbols in both an assembled and disassembled state.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,135 issued to Embro on Apr. 11, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,976 issued to Crowe on Nov. 10, 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,405 issued to Stewart on Oct. 31, 1989, U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,846 issued to Zeeman on Jul. 26, 1977, and French Pat. No. 1,174,184 published on Mar. 6, 1959, all describe block alphanumeric symbols but do not disclose symbols attached via a dovetail and groove arrangement.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.